


Christmas Biscuits of Gratitude

by blueboxesandtrafficcones



Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2018 [8]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Baking, Christmas Cookies, F/F, Gen, Post-Episode: s11e01 The Woman Who Fell to Earth, Post-Regeneration (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27909388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueboxesandtrafficcones/pseuds/blueboxesandtrafficcones
Summary: After defeating Tim Shaw at the construction site, the Doctor decides to show her appreciation to the Sinclair/O’Brien family - in the middle of the night.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2018 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1200850
Comments: 9
Kudos: 17
Collections: 31 Days of Ficmas 2018





	Christmas Biscuits of Gratitude

**Author's Note:**

> Day 8 of 2018's 31 Days of Ficmas
> 
> Prompt: holiday baking

A clatter startled Rose awake, and she jerked upright. Her eyes flew to the sofa across from her, heart stopping at finding it empty. “Doctor!”

Scrambling off the chair and ignoring the cramps to her muscles from her curled up position, she raced towards the racket coming from the kitchen only to stop dead in the doorway, unable to believe her eyes.

“What the _hell_ are you doing?”

“Christmas biscuits, obviously,” the Doctor scoffed. He- _she_ was bent over a tray of gingerbread people, carefully piping icing on.

“At four in the morning?” Now that the initial panic had subsided at seeing her husband- _wife?_ spouse safe, Rose was impressed at how much had been done in the two hours since she’d passed out. Every available surface was covered in trays, some baked, some still filled with raw dough.

A clatter on the stairs made her wince, and was unsurprised when Grace, Graham, and Ryan appeared, Grace leading the charge with a cricket bat.

“What’s going on? Where’s the Doctor?” the older woman questioned, and Rose shot her an apologetic smile.

“Making Christmas biscuits.”

Graham was still wiping sleep from his eye. “It’s January.”

Rose just shrugged. “Sorry. Calendar doesn’t really mean anything to us, we just celebrate when we feel like it. I’ll make sure it’s all cleaned up, go back to bed.”

Grace searched her eyes for a moment before nodding. “Fair enough. C’mon, love,” she tugged her husband back towards the stairs, and he followed willingly enough.

Ryan remained, curving his body around Rose’s to peek into the kitchen. “Wow.”

“Thanks! Want to help?” the Doctor offered, but Rose cut in before the teenager could respond.

“ _No_. It’s four am, it’s been a long- blimey, eight hours, he needs sleep. Go on, get,” she shooed Ryan away, scolding him when he stole a decorated biscuit. “Ryan!”

“Good night,” he mumbled through a mouth full of crumbs, before disappearing back up the stairs.

Once they were alone again, Rose turned back to the Doctor with crossed arms. “You’re _supposed_ to be resting. You just regenerated.”

“I know.” Tongue peeking out the side of her mouth, the Time Lord concentrated on her icing. “I’m fine. Go back to bed, love. Take the couch, you need the rest more than I do at this point.”

Rose ignored her, instead going to the oven just as the timer went off. Biscuits done, she removed the tray and put in the next batch. “Timer?”

“Nine.”

Punching it in, Rose settled the tray she held on the only available cooling rack. “What do you plan to do with all these?”

“I wanted to say thank you.” She didn’t meet Rose’s eye. “For taking care of us. You. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Rose considered, settling onto one of chairs, “but they certainly made it easier. And enjoyable, much as something like this can be.”

“You could have died.”

Selecting one of the gingerbread people and biting the head off, Rose chewed before speaking. “First, these are amazing and you’ve been holding out on me. Second, I learned a _long_ time ago that securing myself to something in moments like that make a big difference, or have you forgotten Canary Wharf?”

“Of course not.”

“There we are then. We won, the Earth is safe, we can sleep easy tonight.”

The Doctor sighed, lowering the piping bag and staring down at the tray in front of her. “You’re never going to be safe.”

“Oh, get stuffed,” Rose said in exasperation, the Doctor’s head jerking up at the unusual expletive from her. “We’ve had this conversation a thousand times, usually on my birthday. I’ve made my choice, and may I remind you that I am now and have been for a while older than you were when we met? Or at least, as old as you _claimed_ to be. I know what this life is, and I’m still as eager for it as I ever was.”

“‘As eager for it as you ever were’?” the Doctor repeated with a lascivious wink, wriggling her eyebrows. “Rose Tyler, we are guests in this house-”

Rose threw the oven mitt at her. “Shush, you know that’s not what I meant.”

“So, you’re saying your not, then?” Despite the teasing tone, Rose sensed an undercurrent of hesitation and frowned.

“What, cause you’ve got girl parts now?”

The Doctor shrugged, pushing her hair out of her face, and Rose’s heart melted. She moved over to her, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her close.

“I love you, and I don’t care what’s in your trousers. It’s no different from any other regeneration, far as I’m concerned. Though, you really should change your clothes. They’re a mess.”

“I must look awful,” the Doctor realized, and Rose laughed softly, leaning back to give her a thorough lookover.

“Well, the clothing is torn and stained, true, and far too big, but that just makes you adorable.” Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to her wife’s. “I’ll need to do a more thorough examination when we get home, but I’m perfectly happy with your new look, though as always I’ll miss who you were. Good?”

“Perfect.”

Their kiss was interrupted by the oven timer, and they broke apart smiling.

Rose took care of this tray as well, while the Doctor returned to her decorating. “Tomorrow we’ll need to get you new clothes, then try to figure out how to find the TARDIS,” she mentioned, resetting the timer before picking up an icing bag and beginning to decorate a tray.

“Yeah.” The Doctor hesitated, before asking pseudo-casually, “Once we have her back, what would you say to offering this lot a trip?”

“Definitely.”

* * *

Two days later, weary from their trek across Desolation in search of the ‘Ghost Monument’, the group of six slunk into the TARDIS, pausing in wonder at the ship’s new console design.

“Wow,” Rose breathed, stepping in just behind the Doctor. “Look at her! Oh you’re _gorgeous_ , love.”

They walked around the console as the others filed in, testing the new controls and exploring. The Doctor let out a soft, happy yelp, and Rose looked up to watch as she pressed a lever, a custard crème appeared out of a slot in the console.

Biting into it the Time Lord looked up at her, beaming around the cookie, before her eyes went wide. “My biscuits!”

“What?” Yaz asked, moving closer, as they began figuring out how to put the TARDIS into flight with the new controls.

“The gingerbread people! They’re going stale as we speak,” the Doctor moaned sadly. “I put in so much work… Rose, hurry!”

“I’m hurrying,” she laughed, letting her bond with the TARDIS guide her through the motions versus the Doctor’s ‘try anything’ approach. “But time machine, remember? We’ll land the same day we left.”

“Biscuits!”

Rose rolled her eyes, pulling the final lever in the sequence as she watched the Doctor fret with fondness.

New Doctor, new TARDIS, new companions, same Rose.

Same feeling of excitement and wonder.

_Bring it on._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
